Have you ever thought about installing a rain garden on your property, but you didn’t know where to start? I’ve thought about putting a rain garden in my backyard this spring – in an area that gets a lot of runoff and is near a stormwater pond. Fortunately, I know exactly where to go for information on how to do it. The Oakdale Environmental Management Commission has put together a simple educational packet with rain garden standards and design examples, and it is available for the asking.

The new Keller Golf Clubhouse, at 18,800 square feet and already open for special events, is located at 2166 Maplewood Drive and again a familar sight along Highway 61. The renovated golf course is planned to open at the end of June. (Linda Baumeister/Review)

Looking up at the new Keller Lake Golf Course clubhouse as you drive along U.S. Highway 61 in Maplewood, you will hardly notice any differences. It was meant to be that way.
Even the brand new pro shop is located in the same place, and its exterior also appears unchanged.
I stopped by Keller recently and met with Allison Winters, communications associate with the Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is warning parents to keep an eye on their children when they near a pond or other body of water where only a thin coating of ice may have formed.
Last winter season, six people died after falling through the ice.

Did you know that the quality of water in your community can impact your property value? It’s true. Studies have indicated a direct correlation between quality of water and property values. After all, would you rather live in a neighborhood with clean, clear waters or one that has ponds full of blue-green algae?
Now, I’d like to think that everyone cares about the quality of our ponds, lakes and wetlands just because it’s the right thing to do. But I am a realist, and I know that this isn’t the case. But perhaps knowing that good water quality has an impact on one’s pocketbook – through increased property values – might spring some people into action!

I’ve just returned from the Wild West, and I’m not referring to the re-enactment of 1890s gunslingers shooting up Main Street in Deadwood, S.D.
No, I mean the new Wild West, the one that’s cropped up more than a century after the days when drifters got into quick-draw duels on the Dakota Territory’s High Plains.
A vacation in the Dakotas wasn’t on my family’s radar a month ago. But after discovering all the campsites were reserved at our top choice -- Rocky Mountain National Park -- we weren’t sure where to go.